AS Psychology Predictions May 2017

Hi guys! Saj here. Firstly – I’m mega sorry these have taken so long to get out to you all especially with your psychology exams almost upon you. I’ve had numerous emails requesting my thoughts on what I think will come up for the new specification and I’ve just been struggling to find the time to sit-down and try take a look (until now that is!).

I’m going to do these predictions a little bit different and simply show you what has and hasnt come up – at least until we get enough data for me to draw more firm conclusions.

Firstly these AS predictions are for AQA psychology and the new specification (not for old spec retake students, you can find those here). These predictions are also only for the AS unit 1 exam paper (not the A level version people will be sitting for the first time this year). Although unit 1 between AS and A level is almost very similar, its simply not possible to predict the A level paper as there has been no previous ones before it. This AS paper also only has 1 previous exam window for me to base my thoughts on too so again you need to take what I say with a pinch of salt. My previous predictions from the old specification had been generally good only because there was an established history of past exams for me to look at and derive potential questions from – we dont have that yet at least for a couple of years until these new specification exams have been sat enough times for me to get an idea of how they are picking the questions (and what has yet to appear over time).

With this in mind you need to prepare for everything but I will point out what has and hasn’t appeared in any form and then leave it for you to decide as I can’t really narrow it down yet.

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AQA Psychology Unit 1 2017 Predictions

Here’s a prediction table I’ve created which outlines all the topics in the unit 1 AS paper and displays what the mark allocations were for every topic that came up in 2016. Like I said, there’s not a lot of history for me to base my predictions on but we can probably assume we wont get the bigger questions repeating themselves again (these are questions worth 8-12 marks). This isn’t guaranteed obviously but if we exclude these we can get an idea of all the topics that didn’t make an appearance at all in any form which helps us guide our focus a bit more now.

Everything in ORANGE is social influence

Everything in BLUE is memory.

Everything in YELLOW is attachment.

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Now looking at this there is two questions which have come up as 12 markers and I would personally rule them out as unlikely to re-appear as full essays again. We also had questions worth 8 and 6 marks. I would personally say 8 markers are little less likely but 6 markers or less should always be considered a possibility. Heres a breakdown from last years paper on what came up based on the table above (not including questions worth less than 8 marks)

The working memory model (12 marks)

Ainsworth’s strange situation (12 marks)

Variables affecting conformity (8 marks)

Some questions did not make an appearance in any form and these would be the ones I would focus most of my attention on when prioritising topics to learn – these are all highlighted with solid green boxes across 2017 to 2016. Questions that came up as 2-6 marks are also just as likely in my opinion but I’ve highlighted them in pink as they are a little less likely considering they already made an appearance in 2016.

The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships (internal working model)

These topics should in theory come up in various forms if they made no appearance at all last time so some will be 2 markers, some will be 4, 6, 8 or even up to 12 markers. Hopefully the table and list above is helpful for you so you know what to focus on a bit more.

I hope this helps in some small way to make your revision a little easier, if you have any questions drop me a comment below :)

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13 Comments

I’m not certain yet but il see if this is possible – if I do it will likely be only a limited amount of topics (ones im comfortable with such as Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression). If you follow the Facebook page you can get notified of them once they are out :)

For the new spec? It would be incredibly hard without any previous exam papers being sat….I’ll post on the Facebook page if I do however but at the moment im 50-50 on attempting them without any previous data! :)

Hi Jackie! – the short answer is no! I’ve merely pointed out what has and hasnt made an appearance! The old spec usually tended not to repeat things and up until we have enough data to get a clearer picture, its tough to make more firm predictions. I have only one previous exam window to base my predictions on so I’m just pointing out what has and hasn’t made an appearance at the moment and letting you guys use that information however you wish!
-Saj

Hi, Saj
Firstly, thank you so much for this it will really help!
Secondly, i was wondering if you could do predictions on research methods (i.e. what has come up in the paper 1 AS new spec exam already and what is likely to come up this time because it didn’t come up before) this will really help as well because i know research methods is worth 30% of marks all together. thanks!

I’m doing my first year of psychology at A level, and I had used your list to help with revision, and it really helped because a lot turned up on the paper. Do you know if you’ll be doing one for the second paper? Would help soooo much!